Emptying the Media Day Notebook

Friday

Jul 31, 2009 at 12:01 AMJul 31, 2009 at 1:08 PM

Dave Matter

Two former Missouri quarterbacks, Corby Jones and Chase Daniel, made their way to Big 12 media days in Irving, Texas, this week, while another was in the news, sadly for different reasons. (More on that later.) But the Tiger QB on the minds of many is one Blaine Gabbert, the sophomore slated to start the Sept. 5 season opener against Illinois. Now just a week away from the start of preseason camp — the first practice is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. next Thursday — there’s no player who’s going to command more attention as the Tigers embark on a season of transition and, thus, uncertainty.

But this sportswriter is feeling optimistic these days. Not Kool-Aid slurping, 10-win-projecting, booking-a-flight-back-to-Dallas-for-Dec.-5 optimistic. But when it comes to the guy pulling on No. 11 this fall, a few things tell me the Tigers are going to be just fine at quarterback. Here’s why:

1. David Yost is no dummy.

In eight years coaching Missouri quarterbacks, all the floppy-haired assistant has done is produce the two most prolific QBs in school history, two players in Brad Smith and Daniel whose skills couldn’t have be more polarized. Trained methodically by Gary Pinkel, someone who knows what he’s doing with quarterbacks — again, more on that later — Yost gains full control of the steering wheel this season. No one in the 573 area code knows Gabbert and Gabbert's strengths and weaknesses better than Yost, and it’s illogical to think his play-calling won’t best suit his rookie starter.

I mean this as a compliment, but there’s no better way to describe Yost than a football geek. A man who admits to having few hobbies or special interests outside of family and football, Yost lives for decoding and analyzing the game. (OK, maybe “football savant” or “football prodigy” would have been a more flattering term, but you get the picture.)

Another point on Yost: He won’t trip over his ego on the way to the coaches’ booth. Quirky as he might be, this isn’t a guy out to boost his national profile with a flashy system hell bent on defying convention and logic. An admitted tightwad when it comes to spending, Yost is already among the highest paid assistant coaches in the Big 12 and has said publicly he has zero interest in becoming a head coach. If you asked me to project Yost’s career arc, I’d point to longtime coordinator Norm Chow as the archetype: Unpretentious, cerebral and no ambitions for the spotlight. That’s a plus for a young fleet of quarterbacks who need all the help they can get developing their talents.

(Don’t read that paragraph as a knock on Missouri’s two departed coordinators. What Dave Christensen and Matt Eberflus did the last few years — interview for other jobs to boost their careers — is the absolute norm for college assistants. But it’s naïve to think in-season job interviews don’t sidetrack the most focused assistant coach, at least minimally. Yost, though, is unconventional in that sense.)

Bottom line, when Christensen left MU’s staff for the top job at Wyoming, the best move Pinkel could have made in the interest of his young quarterback was hand the controls to Yost. And he did.

2. Chase Daniel is not around.

Gabbert, Yost and Pinkel have all testified to how valuable Daniel’s presence was for Gabbert last season. As a true freshman, Gabbert had a front-row seat to watch one of the country’s best players as he prepared, practiced and performed everyday. Chuck Gabbert, Blaine’s father, told me recently, "You know what, that was absolutely the best situation in the whole country for Blaine to come in and work with Chase. He learned so much."

But that was 2008. And now, with Daniel trying to make the Washington Redskins’ roster, it’s time for Blaine to be Blaine and emerge from Daniel’s shadow. Gabbert is naturally a bit more introverted than Daniel — actually, who isn’t? — but now that he’s the starter, Gabbert can most likely relax a bit, be himself and let his own personality come forward. You can’t become a leader until you find your own voice and feel comfortable in your own skin.

"The thing you have to understand," Pinkel told me Tuesday, "is when you come in and you’re playing behind Chase Daniel, you’re not going to walk around and start acting like you’re ‘The Man.’ Because you’re not ‘The Man.’ He’s ‘The Man.’ "

3. 1,540 & 5.9

The first number is the collective weight of Missouri’s projected starting offensive line, a group that will open camp with first-year starters at left guard (Austin Wuebbels) and right tackle (Dan Hoch) but established veterans at the other three positions. The Tigers don’t typically play a grinding, smashmouth brand of football along the front five, but the two new starters bring a physical presence. And new O-line coach Josh Henson was raised on punishing power running games at Oklahoma State and LSU under Les Miles.

The second number is Derrick Washington’s yards-per-carry average in 2008, when he played 13 games with a torn meniscus in his left knee. Only two Missouri running backs in the modern era have averaged a better rate: Robert Delpino and Ernest Blackwell. Missouri’s not going to give up throwing the ball and will probably wing it around at least 50 percent of the time as it did in 2006, Daniel’s first season as a starter. But Washington is capable of taking tremendous pressure off Gabbert — as is his more than capable backup De’Vion Moore — if the Tigers can get the running game going and stick with it.

It’s still unclear who’s going to emerge as Gabbert’s favorite passing targets, but with an offensive line that should be dependable as usual and a franchise tailback in Washington, the Tigers have the pieces in place to supply one half of the balanced offense Yost and Pinkel desire.

? Speaking of Pinkel, I caught him for a few minutes in between radio and TV interviews on Tuesday to talk about quarterbacks. I covered this topic in Wednesday’s Tribune story, but here’s more from our conversation:

Q: Gary, in your time at Missouri, with everything you’ve accomplished, where does your track record of recruiting and developing quarterbacks rank?

A: Well, I’d like to think that’s going to continue. Honestly, if you look back at Washington and Toledo, we’ve always had good quarterbacks. I think we do a good job training them and developing them. Obviously, when you have players with great skill level, you coach a lot better. We have a system in place, and that’s what we do.

I always tell people, ‘In my business, if you’re fortunate to have a good quarterback a good part of your career, that’s going to help you significantly.’ I don’t know why, but I’ve always been associated with good quarterbacks.

Q: How much of that success is directly related to David Yost, who’s now your offensive coordinator?

A: Dave’s huge. One reason I hired him—he was a very bright guy — but at the time I could mold him into the quarterback coach I wanted him to be. He came in with habits that I didn’t particularly care for or believe in. But what he’s done with the spread offense, is take the position to a whole new level.

And we just don’t throw the ball out there and tell them to go play. You train a quarterback fundamentally. You train a quarterback physically, with Pat Ivey getting him better. You train a quarterback how to think back there and how to make decisions. But you also train a quarterback in leadership and competitiveness. One thing I’ve always said, I don’t care how far you can throw a ball in high school. I don’t care if you’re NFL, high school or college or what skill level you got. If you’re not mentally and physically tough and you aren’t a great competitor, you’ll never be a great player at quarterback. It. Does. Not. Happen. You can be the prettiest thrower in the world. You can be as accurate as Chase Daniel. But Chase Daniel and Brad Smith were both mentally and physically tough. They were tenacious competitors.

That was the thing I was worried about with Brad Smith. We’re evaluating this guy, and I’m thinking, ‘My gosh, he’s the nicest kid I’ve ever met in my life. What we found about him was when we put that helmet on him, he became a gladiator.

Those qualities are every bit as significant.

Q: On that note, how much more do you have to learn about Blaine Gabbert, in terms of those intangibles and his toughness?

A: Until you go, you never know. I have a lot of confidence in him. I was very pleased in the spring because I saw all those things at a whole different level.

You see, Chase Daniel was like Chris Chandler was when I was at Washington. Chase Daniel walked in and just radiated. Mark Brunell wasn’t like that. Hugh Millen wasn’t like that. Brad Smith wasn’t like that. I don’t think any of our quarterbacks have been here long enough for us to tell the story. We’ll see what happens with these guys. But all those guys became very mentally tough and physically tough.

That’s what I was watching (from Gabbert in the spring) more than throwing passes. I wanted to see when he got hit. That’s why we took the green jerseys off to see him get beat up a little bit. I wanted to see how he handled throwing interceptions. How did he handle it? I was very pleased with seeing these qualities come out and rise.

The other thing you have to understand is when you come in and you’re playing behind Chase Daniel, you’re not going to walk around and start acting like you’re ‘The Man.’ Because you’re not ‘The Man.’ He’s ‘The Man.’

Q: When do you want to name your starter? Do you wait until the Monday before the Illinois game or would you consider making an announcement during preseason camp?

A: We can’t be premature yet. There are other quarterbacks, and we need to see what happens with (Jimmy) Costello and everyone else. As you well know, clearly coming out of spring (Gabbert) was No. 1. So, that depends on how it goes. I hope the younger players and Costello continue to play well so that it becomes a bigger decision. Because that’s what you want.

But I’ve done it different ways. With Brad Smith I think we (announced a starter) two weeks before the start of the season. Chase Daniel was competing with Chase Patton at the time. This is nothing against Chase Patton, but Chase Daniel is such an imposing guy as a player that it just kind of happened. There wasn’t really a whole lot of discussion with it. We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.

I don’t like to make too many decisions about personnel finalized and really stamping them in until right before the first game. I like competition.

? He was by no means considered among the best quarterbacks to wear the Black and Gold, but few Missouri players have gone on to lead as successful a career in football as former Tiger Jim Johnson. An MU quarterback from 1960-62, Johnson became one of the NFL’s most innovative, successful and respected defensive coordinators, spending his best years with the Philadelphia Eagles the last 10 seasons. On Tuesday, Johnson died following his bout with a cancerous tumor on his spine. He was 68.

Johnson took snaps in each of his three seasons at MU and led the Tigers in passing in 1962 when he shared a backfield with Johnny Roland. That year, an 8-1-2 season that ended with a victory over Georgia Tech in the Bluebonnet Bowl, Johnson threw for a team-high 198 yards with a touchdown while running for 197 yards. (The Tigers were all about defense and running the ball those years under Dan Devine.) Johnson was part of three MU teams that finished 26-3-3 and outscored its opponents 623-212.

(I’ve seen Johnson mentioned as a former All-Big Eight quarterback, but that’s a little misleading. The first-team All-Big Eight backs in 1962 were Roland, Iowa State’s Dave Hoppmann, Kansas’ Gale Sayers and Oklahoma’s Jim Grisham. Four more backs were named to the second team, and Johnson was one of 20 backs named to the honorable mention list, including three other MU backs. So, yes, technically he was on the All-Big Eight team, along with 27 other backs, almost four per team.)

Johnson only makes a quick appearance in Bob Broeg’s “Ol Mizzou: A Century of Tiger Football,” the authoritative chronicle of MU’s first 100 years. “A big lefthander, Jim Johnson, a Maywood, Illinois defensive specialist who ran much better than he threw, quarterbacked the 1962 team,” Broeg wrote.

During that season, Johnson had perhaps his finest game against Oklahoma State in a 23-6 victory. Johnson earned the game ball after directing an offense that gashed the Cowboys for 371 rushing yards, including 44 from Johnson on six carries. After the game, MU tackle Jerry Wallach told reporters, “Johnson proved once and for all, he may be the most underrated quarterback in the country.”

Johnson wasn’t just a quarterback. He also played safety in 1961-62 and returned punts. He holds a small place in the Tigers’ record book that might never be broken: The two-way starter is the last Missouri player to run for a touchdown, throw a touchdown pass and intercept a pass in the same regular season.

Johnson, of course, carved out his legacy as a defensive assistant in the NFL and his aggressive, blitz-heavy schemes that made Andy Reid’s Eagles among the elite franchise over the last decade.

The Jim Johnson tribute columns have been flying off the presses. Here are two from the Philly papers:

Rich Hoffman, Philadelphia Daily News

Phil Sheridan, Philadelphia Inquirer

? Time for some leftover notes from Big 12 media days.

Most inspiring first impression: Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads. Call him the anti-Chizik. The new Cyclones head coach, a career defensive assistant, was all substance, little style and very few phony smiles and empty clichés. While his predecessor, the slickster Gene Chizik, blustered with little more than coachspeak, Rhoads sounds like the ideal hire for a downtrodden place like Iowa State. He’s an Iowa native, a grinder who knows exactly how bad the program has been. Here’s what else I like about Rhoads: He’s worked under two men who are among the most likeable coaches in the business, two guys who had success but were unceremoniously dumped for reasons beyond my little brain, Dan McCarney and Tommy Tuberville.

Least inspiring impression: Texas A&M’s Mike Sherman. He’s never been accused of having an electric personality, but the second-year Aggies coach seems worn down by the challenges he’s facing in College Station. There’s a lot to like about some of the pieces he’s collected, especially on offense, but if A&M’s not the worst program in the Big 12 South, who is? Certainly not Texas Tech, even though Mike Leach’s team has some big shoes to fill. And certainly not Baylor. Art Briles is stockpiling talent in Waco, and it’s just a matter of time before the Bears start parlaying potential into wins. (Maybe it was Bruce Feldman’s recent Baylor piece in ESPN The Magazine, but I’m high on the Bears.)

Most inconspicuous pairing: Todd Reesing & Kerry Meier. Here’s a great thing about college football: Both halves of one of the country’s most prolific passing tandems could have passed for bellhops at Big 12 media day … because neither cuts the figure of a big-time college player. But both are. The Zen-like Meier, the league’s best possession receiver, is KU’s own David Wooderson (Google it) minus the wispy blond mustache he has since shaved off, sadly. As for Reesing, just as he arrived in Dallas another batch of bizarre photos of him circulated on the Internet and across email, including several with Reesing sporting way too short denim shorts and a hideous jacket featuring the stars and stripes of the American flag. A TV reporter asked Reesing on camera about the photos, and, to Reesing’s credit, the quarterback didn’t flinch. Reesing played ball and shot back, "You mean you don’t have an American flag jacket, too?"

Best moment of candor: Carson Coffman. The Kansas State quarterback was asked which scenario pleased him more: K-State quarterback Josh Freeman leaving school a year early for the NFL draft or Bill Snyder coming back to coach the Wildcats. “Josh’s departure,” Coffman said quickly. “I mean, we were always good friends, so we talked about his decision a lot. When he told me" he was entering the draft, "I just thanked him because I know it’s my time. We talked about it a lot, even our freshman and sophomore years. He’d say, ‘I can leave after three years and you’d have two years to play.’ " Coffman didn’t mean he was disappointed by Snyder’s return — he was stoked by the coaching change. “Everyone loves him in Manhattan," Coffman said. "He’s just an icon."

(Speaking of Coffman, there was some confusion whether his younger brother Cameron, a junior quarterback at Ray-Pec High School had already committed to K-State. He hasn’t. Here’s what Carson said about Cameron: "K-state’s offered him already, so he’s excited about that. He might come here, who knows.")

Best double talk: Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach on trading barbs with A&M’s Sherman regarding Aggies quarterback Stephen McGee and the NFL draft. (Leach popped off when McGee was taken in April’s draft, and his quarterback, Graham Harrell, wasn’t.) "We never had any problem," Leach said of Sherman. "I have the utmost respect for Mike Sherman and Texas A&M and the rest. Of course there were some statements that needed response, but that’s where it is. But I respect their tradition and coaching and all the rest. I don’t have any problem. Never did. It’s not possible for me to get wound up over anything that took place."

Then asked if he regrets his earlier comments about McGee — here’s what he said in April: "I’m happy for Stephen McGee. The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did." — Leach made no apology. “No, not at all."

Best new-age philosopher: Leach, again. Asked if he’s ever considered another line of work, Leach went into a long discussion on life and the roads not traveled. "The thing that I think is tough about life, in general, you’re not going to get any quality unless you immerse yourself in something. OK, but once you do that, you’re consumed by it for how many years, say 40 or whatever. And then it’s like, there was all these other aspects of life that I didn’t get to draw from or do. But then again it wouldn’t have really been the same quality if you hadn’t immersed yourself in this. But by the same token, you missed out on that.

"Somebody asked me one time, they said, ‘If you were reincarnated, would you do it all the same way?’ Leach said. "I said, ‘No, I’d do it all exactly the opposite.’ … I’m not saying John Dillinger opposite, but a little bit the opposite."

Best sense of optimism: Dan Hawkins has won 13 games in three seasons at Colorado but a championship is right around the corner. Just ask him: "I just know. I know great things can happen and you’re just a stone’s turn away from those things happening. You start getting a little bit of momentum. You stay healthy, you start putting things together and get a couple breaks and, wow, it happens. Every place I’ve been we’ve won championships. Every place. Part of that is it’s the expectation." (Another part might be developing a quarterback, but hope is good, too.)

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